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2016-2022 EDUCATIONAL AND FACILITIES MASTER PLAN
HISTORY CHAPTER 1 – BACKGROUND

Los Angeles County/City of Santa Clarita library In 2004 the District created a second site at
CANYON COUNTRY CAMPUS building near Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra newly-constructed Golden Valley High School in
Providing educational access to its entire service Highway. As the building was being constructed, Newhall. The high school had just opened, and
area is a hallmark of College of the Canyons. To the District provided input into its design to the College was able to use nine classrooms until
serve students from the eastern part of the Santa accommodate student access and the instruction- the school reached its capacity enrollment. Be-
Clarita Valley (SCV), College of the Canyons has al function of the facility as an interim tween the two locations, 1,500 students per year
offered numerous classes at schools, churches, educational site. took classes with an average of 68 sections per
community centers and other facilities. By 2000,
it was obvious that the demand for classes could
not adequately be met using auxiliary venues.
The Canyon Country Campus (CCC) was
designed and built to increase access to higher
education in the SCV.

GROWTH IN THE EASTERN VALLEY
As early as 1990, based on the population growth
in the east and south of the SCV (Saugus, Can-
yon Country and Newhall), the need for a sec-
ond campus in this area was increasingly evident.
Studies have shown that about 32% of the nearly
21,300 students attending College of the Can-
yons in 2007 resided in ZIP codes in and around
Canyon Country, including the fast-growing
population centers of the Antelope Valley. The
Southern California Association of Governments
estimated that nearly 75,000 people would be
living in Canyon Country by 2010, an increase
of 32 percent over 10 years.
Nearby Saugus was expected to increase 28%
over the same period. The combined popula-
tion of Saugus and Canyon Country is about
125,000. These trends indicate that the number
of students who will seek college classes in that
vicinity will continue to grow dramatically over
the coming years. A permanent, fully developed
college campus site quickly became an imperative
in the District’s planning for the future.

In 2000, the District leased space for an off-
campus site, known as the Canyon Country
ACCESS Center, in the newly constructed joint

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